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Projects

On this page you will find an overview of projects realised by the German Council for Sustainable Development. By arranging own communication projects the Council also aims to invite a broader public to deal with the issue of sustainable development in a creative way.

The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) has passed as resolution the revised German Sustainability Code as updated on 04 August 2014. Two and a half years after its launch, the transparency standard was put to the test and fundamentally revised. The initial for the update are changes in one of the applied Sustainability Code reporting schemes: The Global Reporting Initiative has recently published to the fourth generation of its guidelines. Changes were made in the indicators and reporting requirements, that are now reflected in the Sustainability Code. In the review experiences made in the practical application of the Code have been incorporated - of companies as well as the office of the German Sustainability Council. Redundancies were eliminated and requirements on declarations of conformity clarified. More

The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) has developed a "Werkstatt N" quality label which will, in future, be awarded every year to 100 projects and project drafts from up and down the country. In the opinion of the Council, the people behind the initiatives demonstrate both resourcefulness and commitment in their approach to showing how sustainability ideas can be turned into deeds and added value for the benefit of society. More

Timely placed into the after-election discussions international experts recommend strengthening the implementation of sustainability policies. Mandated by the German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel the peer group delivered their report “Sustainability-Made in Germany. The Second Review” on 25 September 2013. Following the 2012 progress report on the National Sustainable Development Strategy, the Federal Chancellery invited a group of internationally recognized experts from Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, USA, South Africa and Korea to undertake a second peer review on Germany’s sustainable development policies. More

People wanting to live socially and ecologically responsibly and thereby come along with his budget, can do that already today – without bigger efforts and without abdication of convenience. It is important to distinguish the willingness to question consumption habits. That shows the booklet «The Sustainable Shopping Basket» of the German Council for Sustainable Development. More

Internalising and reducing external costs is a cornerstone of a green economy. Sustainable business models require as much knowledge as possible of the external, social and environmentally relevant costs that accrue in manufacturing and sales/distribution, consumption and disposal. How can this be ensured? The German Council for Sustainable Development was calling on interested parties to take part in its idea competition. Jochen Zeitz, Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR and Executive Chairman of PUMA SE, is a co-opted member of the Sustainability Council. He is the inspiration behind the project and will be accompanying it throughout. Contestants were asked to submit ideas and innovations from the business and academic sectors. The call for ideas was directed at employees of businesses and social institutions as well as researchers at universities, colleges and non-university research institutions, especially those involved in research on sustainable development. More

Since early 2010, on the invitation of the German Council for Sustainable Development, the Lord Mayors of twenty German cities have been meeting regularly for a dialogue on strategic issues concerning the “Sustainable City”. The Lord Mayors are making a special effort toward sustainable development in their cities and pursuing their goal in a unique way. They exchange information about their strategies as political decision makers, pursuing the question of how municipal sustainability policy can enhance its profile and influence at the federal level as well. The results of their work so far have been documented in the “Strategic cornerstones for sustainable development in municipalities”, published in October 2010, as well as in the June 2011 publication “Städte für eine zukunftsfähige Entwicklung” (Cities for sustainable development), which was drafted in conjunction with the German Institute for Urban Studies (DIFU). Their most recent publication, “Making the Energiewende a success story thanks to strong local authorities”, was released in June 2013. The Council for Sustainable Development enables and facilitates the process. More

On 23 March, 85 young “visionaries” from across Germany met in Berlin to begin their search for answers to the question: “How do we want to live in 2050?” The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) had invited the participants – all of whom had been nominated by sustainability experts from the political, business and scientific communities – to present and discuss their personal visions during a three-day workshop and also to develop a common vision of what a future society should look like. The workshop began with a debate involving the “visionaries” – the majority of whom under the age of 25 – Council member, Max Schön, and an experienced political practitioner, former Federal Minister / Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Franz Müntefering. More

Against the background of the global efforts to achieve corporate sustainability and of the disputed claims for and means of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the German Council for Sustainable Development has developed recommendations for the German government and trade and industry. More

"Intergenerational Dialogue in Practice – Citizens Initiate Sustainability" is a contribution to the national sustainability strategy made by the Federal Government which jointly sponsors the competition along with the German Council for Sustainable Development. By staging this competition, the Federal Government and the German Council for Sustainable Development seek to honour and support the many forms of voluntary civil involvement. More

The competition "Mission Sustainability" of the German Council for Sustainable Development started 2007 and is still on target. In the focus: Small actions which can have a big impact. Only when every single person orientates her every day behaviour on criterias of sustainability, things will really change. Besides the description of the idea and the planned change of action in every day life the participants are asked to present their idea in a graphical way. More

In this international dialogue project the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH will initiate a platform for exchange among experts from government, the economy and civil society of the BRICS-Countries and Germany. While a focus is placed on experiences with National Strategies for Sustainable Development, discussions are also expected to refer to examples from the areas of energy, resource management and the social dimension. Participants are invited to compare their respective policies for sustainable development, exchange experiences and evaluations and draw conclusions regarding their National Strategies for Sustainable Development. More

How do people who care about sustainability look like? This was the question of this year’s annual communication project of the German Council for Sustainable Development. Every participant could take part with photos of a friend who works for human rights, or the neighbour who works on an organic farmyard, the professor who carried out exciting research projects on relevant topics or the politician who takes the fight against poverty and the protection of the environment seriously even when it is not the run-up to an election. More

What do we eat, by what means do we move about, how do we spend our spare time? – Quite simple observations speak volumes about sustainability in our private day-to-day life. A national film competition, which the Sustainability Council initiated, was to sharpen sensibility both with young people and with senior citizens for the treatment nature and energy and for our own mobility and recreation behaviour. More

How do you advertise for a sustainable world and get to the heart of sustainability? Draw our attention to what is important for you: show us what today’s world needs to exist tomorrow. How can you win young people to re-think and to behave in a sustainable manner in daily life, when shopping, on holiday or elsewhere? More

Our consumption habits are being put to the test. The associated questions are, however, often awkward. Which foodstuffs do we buy? What type of power comes out of my sockets? How do I spend my money to be mobile? Does my clothing contain unhealthy chemicals? Those who wish to consume in a responsible manner are often confronted with difficulties. Mostly they lack sufficient information on products or services that offer a positive contribution to sustainability most readily. More

The Council for Sustainable Development, together with young people, developed a book "Young people write about the future" that accompanied the German government on its way to Johannesburg to the World Summit for Sustainable Development in summer 2002. Within the framework of a national creative writing competition, numerous youth groups had applied for participation in the writing workshops of the Sustainability Council’s book project. Unfortunately, not every contestant could be taken into consideration. More